Analysis of alternative conceptions about the nature of scientific knowledge in high school Chemistry

Abstract

The History and Philosophy of Science in Chemistry Teaching has been the object of study in various types of research at national and international level. Several authors point out that “there are many stones on this path”, in the sense that the results of such investigations reach the classroom, which in fact has been a great challenge for the entire academic community. This research has as main objective to present the results of an analysis carried out on the conception of scientific knowledge of high school students in Chemistry in a state school in the city of Campina Grande - PB. The investigation is qualitative in nature, in which a semi-structured questionnaire was applied based on questions about the nature of scientific knowledge. The results point to distorted and simplistic views regarding the students' understanding of the topic addressed. In this sense, we infer these deformations to the lack of approach to the History and Philosophy of Science in Chemistry Teaching.